North Dakota farmers have spent $6 million to open a pair of Washington restaurants, one just blocks from the White House, to showcase food from family farms. The newer eatery aims to be "Washington's greenest restaurant."

North Dakota farmers have spent $6 million to open a pair of Washington restaurants, one just blocks from the White House, to showcase food from family farms. The newer eatery aims to be "Washington's greenest restaurant."

If the restaurant industry can dial down the enormous environmental damage it does daily even slightly, it would be huge. Restaurants are the retail world's largest energy user. They use almost five times more energy per square foot than any other type of commercial building, says Pacific Gas & Electric's Food Service Technology Center (FSTC).